REVERSE DIETING & THE MUSCLE STRUGGLE

Meet Ally! She's the author behind FueledFresh, a health & wellness blog that looks to tone down the bullshit and extremes of the fitness industry, and share her story in order to help others create a motivated mentality and healthy, sustainable lifestyle of their own. Her fiancé and natural pro body builder, Lex Kovacs, has taught her the most, and she believes in applying the same, yet less fanatical, habits it took Lex to become a professional bodybuilder to her own routine and to others' who are looking to improve their physique and maintain it for the long term.

Check her out at www.FueledFresh.com

CURRENT PHYSIQUE GOALS

I completed my first serious fat loss phase about a year ago, lost 13 pounds, and now want to put some muscle on this measly body! So my current goal is to complete a yearlong reverse diet, get stronger, and build some muscular curves. #strongissexy

WHAT IS A REVERSE DIET?

A reverse diet is typically used after a calorie deficit, in which calories are incrementally increased over time, first back to maintenance level, then through the calorie surplus. The goal behind a reverse diet is to avoid fat gain as much as possible while increasing caloric intake and improving body composition and metabolic capacity.

After going through a caloric deficit, it's difficult to not start eating like a complete asshole and gorging on all the pizza and cookies and ice cream you've been deprived of. Many people say it's even more difficult than dieting down. That's why the "incremental" piece of the reverse diet equation is so important-so the body isn't immediately overwhelmed with an excess of calories while more susceptible to fat gain.

WHY I'M REVERSING DIETING & THE STRUGGLE

Strength & improving my metabolism are my ultimate goals. A reverse diet will allow me to train harder, further damage the muscles, and put my caloric surplus to good use for repair, recovery, and growth.

Heavier weights + more food = bigger muscles

As if the act of building muscle wasn't already difficult enough, the cherry on top is the female gene, and getting the hormonal shaft when it comes to muscle growth. The struggle is mostly due to our enormous differences in hormone levels compared to men- us females have a practically negative amount of testosterone (slight exaggeration, we have a whopping 1/10th or so of what men do).

The struggle extends further being a female in the culture and society we live in, as I've been programmed for almost my whole life to try to lose weight, be smaller, be skinnier. So one of the hardest parts of the reverse diet is MENTAL- mentally accepting that I will see the scale go up and I will get a little thicker.

The bright side is that it's temporary sacrifice for a long-term benefit. Plus, I get to eat more so who can really complain about that?!